Archive for August 2012

Sorry for the hiatus. I have been busy seeing some really good music this year.

The more bands I see live the less I want to see live.

When I was in high school I would shell out money for virtually any band, regardless of if I had heard of them or not.

Some shows were good, most were not. Regardless, as I have aged my appetite for live music has narrowed.

Today the number of band’s I am willing to pay top billing for I can count on one hand. They are Beck and Radiohead.

For my birthday my wife managed to score two floor tickets to Radiohead’s Broomfield date at the First Bank Center. Needless to say I was thrilled.

We showed up for the show about an hour in advance in hopes of getting a good spot on the floor. It was clear I was not alone. The line was already wrapping around the building.

We hopped in line and enjoyed the sunny evening. By the time the doors opened an hour later the line have tripled in size looping around the facility and stretching back towards the parking lot.

As soon as we got in I booked it towards the floor and secured a spot about 20 feet back from the stage on right side of the auditorium. The First Bank Center is a smaller facility as it is and tickets for the event had sold out in minutes.

Other Lives opened and were really good. I had not heard of them before the show, but am a fan now. They are out of Oklahoma and are on par with Radiohead’s laid back melodic style of music.

Then came the main event.

Radiohead took what turned out to be a highly elaborate stage complete with rotating giant video monitors that hovered above our heads. I was actually too close to fully appreciate the stage presentation because some of the projectors were above or even slightly behind us.

Thom Yorke took center stage belting out a varied mix of hits. They started off with “Bloom” and “Little By Little” off of King of Limbs before getting into a rendition of “The National Anthem.”

The show was heavy on the new material between King of Limbs and In Rainbows. While to be expected they mixed in some classics such as “Karma Police,” “True Love Waits,” and “Everything in it’s Right Place.”

I was disappointed they didn’t play “Videotape,” but an encore that included a fantastic version of “True Love Waits/Everything In It’s Right Place” was great.

The truth is you can’t really be picky with Radiohead because every song is a hit and delivered with meticulous precision. You could see the effort the group put into the 23-song set that included two encores. All while making it look truly effortless.

Even while watching it, I knew it was one of my top five shows of all time.